See, this is where the strategy behind the play is not considered. The Vikes were flexing their LBers toward the perimeter to help with the stretch and WR coverage. The middle of the field was open all day. Those Kuhn runs are effective when the defense wants to do that.

How the first one failed was that the two DTs actually crashed in on that play and they just dumb luck guessed that one right and were able to stuff it. On the second one, Kuhn side stepped to the right anticipating the DTs crashing inside again. The idea was to sidestep that penetration and the hole would be to the side of it. Well, the DTs did not crash inside that play and it was defensed. The Pack had the right strategy, but overthought it the second time. They should have just pushed up the middle on the second one and the drive of the interior oline and Kuhn would have pushed that pile into the endzone. They got cute on the second one and the LBer was able to recover to make that play. If the Pack come out in a pass set with Kuhn as the protector, and Arod sees the soft middle like that, he is going to audible to Kuhn because it will usually work. It makes complete sense schematically when you see it on the field.

Earlier in the thread some mentioned the crowd not being into it. Nothing could be further from the truth. There was no wave last night, why? Everyone was standing the entire game. To the point, some were complaining behind people to sit down. Those people were told to stand up if you could not see. Everyone was standing the whole game and the crowd was into the game until it was 24-3. At the point, everyone in the stadium knew the game was in hand and just was out celebrating. The Purple was out of our area before the 4th quarter started.

Play of the game? The two Viking penalties and the defense after the first drive. Getting the 7 instead of 3 before half when they caught with too many men on the field was huge. We were all calling for a TD before half and to start the 2nd half to put the game away early. That penalty made it happen. The offsides, which was obvious when they lined up, was huge too, got the drive to go on and got the offense more snaps to get in rhythm. Once the D adjusted to Webb on the second D series, it was over. One blown coverage was all the Vikes could get. Woodson made tackles this week that the DBs did not make last week. Huge difference in the game right there. That and the difference in surface made AP's cuts much less explosive. Night and day difference!!

Going to sober up the rest of the day. Need a nap and some lemon water to help my throat. Go Pack!

Couldn't disagree more. There have been so many times this year where he's had people scratching their heads.

The plays he called when we had 1st and goal from the 3 were downright ridiculous. Run Kuhn on 1st down, stuffed. Then on 3rd down, he's takes the ball out of #12's hands, and runs Kuhn again?! Pathetic.

I'm also tired of our inability to covert on 3rd and 1. We'll either hand it to Kuhn, and get stuffed. Or go shotgun with nobody in backfield (so the D knows we're passing), and throw deep. Such a low percentage play. Sure, it works sometimes. But why not call something more high % and move the chains?_________________

- For what seems like the first time all year, we truly were only taking what the defense was giving us on that first drive. Harris was huge because he sat in the middle of the field ten yards out and it was WIDE OPEN. After that, I would assume MIN started playing up again, and that's when we started to hit the deeper stuff. Coupled with Harris busting off some nice runs, there wasn't much MIN could do.

- ^^ But we did a lot of that because of O-Line play. This line is really playing well together. Props to Newhouse!

- Finley threw some aggressive chip blocks! He's playing hungry and energized. I can excuse the end zone drop, that was a difficult play.

- I almost get the feeling that we held back last week. I know we got Woodson back, but they made some simple changes on the defensive approach and cut Peterson's yards in half.

- Speaking of Woodson, they utilized him TO PERFECTION. We all got on him for his coverage woes pre-injury, but he's so valuable at the LOS. Will be huge next week against Gore/Kaepernick.

- Walden is a strong SOB. Wow. Played great.

- MD Jennings is terrible. Webb made him look absolutely foolish in the beginning of the game. Hurts me to see him on the field.

- Raji!! Dude has been out of his mind for a few weeks. Glad to see it.

At the end of the day, this just confirmed one thing for me: the whole season was a long growing process, with pieces being put together as it went on. MM calls a brilliant game, Dom calls a pretty great game himself, and it's all coming together now. This team knows how to make a SB run. It's time.

That should have been defensive holding on that play but the refs didn't call a lot of holding on either team last night._________________

The difference is that this is a FOOTBALL forum. Heated debates about FOOTBALL are expected and encouraged. If you want to discuss your cure for Ebola, try ebolasfuture.com or any other appropriate forum.

I just do not agree at all with any criticism of MM from this game. The progression of the offense from the first scoring drive to the second scoring drive was awesome. I get that stalling in the red zone sucks, but I think PF4L made some good points about it. They went right back to Kuhn the next time and it worked. I'd also have to imagine they were trying different things kind of knowing we were going to have this game under control.

I just do not agree at all with any criticism of MM from this game. The progression of the offense from the first scoring drive to the second scoring drive was awesome. I get that stalling in the red zone sucks, but I think PF4L made some good points about it. They went right back to Kuhn the next time and it worked. I'd also have to imagine they were trying different things kind of knowing we were going to have this game under control.

MM shows up in the playoffs big time.

Giving SF some new looks and something else to worry about. I don't mind it. We can all clamor for a 48-10 win but why run through the entire playbook when the game's in check? Seems silly and exuberant to me._________________